Preventing (and Solving) the Polarization Problem

I hate to say it, but sometimes the church can have striking similarities with the current U.S. Congress.  Thankfully, there is a solution to that problem.

A few days ago, as I was looking at the website for a local newspaper, I saw the name "Evan Bayh" as one of their featured topics.  I had never heard that name before so I clicked on the link to see why this guy was newsworthy.  It turned out that he is a U.S. senator representing the state of Indiana who decided that it was time for him to retire from politics.  As I read the article, I came across a quotation from Mr. Bayh, that I am sure that many Americans would agree with.  He said,

"For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should.  There is too much partisanship and not enough progress -- too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous challenge, the people's business is not being done."

Simply stated, he is leaving because he believes that Congress isn't doing the job it was put in place to do, which is to serve the people.  Sometimes when I look around, I wonder if God's church is suffering from excess partisanship, and narrow ideology as well.  However, instead of merely neglecting to do "the people's business", we are neglecting to do God's business, which has much more serious consequences.

When Simone and I took the pre-wedding classes required by the church we were eventually married in, we learned that one of the things to beware of in a marriage is polarization.  Polarization is essentially becoming an extreme version of yourself.  For example, a spontaneous man marries a methodical woman, and instead of coming together on some sort of workable middle ground, they go in opposite directions.  The spontaneous man becomes radically impulsive, and the methodical woman becomes unbearably rigid.  Then whatever plans God had for them are seriously undermined.

We have to be very careful in both our local churches, as well as in the church at large, to avoid polarization; one group becoming extremely "liberal" and the other becoming extremely "conservative", all the while each faction believes they have cornered the market on the correct way to be.  The results of this behavior are lost souls, and a happy devil.

The only real solution to this problem is for everyone one to stop looking at themselves, and each other, and to start looking at Jesus.  I saw an exercise one time where a group of people stood in a circle.  The center of the circle represented the cross.  Everyone was instructed to take one step towards the center, and as you may have guessed, they drew closer to one another.  So if you want to avoid your church becoming like the U.S. Congress, focus on the cross.  You might be amazed at what can happen.

Educational . . . Advertising?

I have awakened from my blogging slumber (my last post was months ago) because I picked up something educational, while watching the Super Bowl of all things.  Well, I didn't learn anything from the game itself, but I did learn something from the advertisements, especially one in particular.

The ad I found interesting, that seemed to put an exclamation point on a general theme, was the one for the Dodge Charger entitled "Man's Last Stand" (look it up if you haven't seen it yet).  I did a simple web search for the ad and found out that a lot of other people have opinions about it, and many are not positive.  Most of the negativity came from women, but one man strongly implied that it was the most offensive ad overall.

Why all the negativity?  Was it because it talked about men who do what they are told, are tired of it, and because of what they go through, they should be able to drive a cool car, or was it because it spoke to something deeper.  I personally liked the ad, not simply because I like cool cars but also because it spoke in a non-cartoonish way to an undercurrent of discontent among men that I had been aware of for sometime.  A discontent largely fueled by, dare I say it, the emasculation of masculinity.  Christian author John Eldredge had this to say on this subject in his book "Wild at Heart".

"Society at large can't make up it's mind about men.  Having spent the last thirty years redefining masculinity into something more sensitive, safe, manageable and, well, feminine, it now berates men for not being men. . . .  'Where are all the real men?" is regular fare for talk shows and new books.  You asked them to be women, I want to say.  The result is a gender confusion never experienced at such a wide level in the history of the world.  How can a man know he is one when his highest aim is minding his manners?"

He continues by saying that this mindset is also seen in the church, a church that tells men that they don't keep their promises, be spiritual leaders, talk to their wives, or raise their children.  However, if they try really hard, they can be a nice guy, as if this was the ultimate goal.  Then, to support this assertion, he asks the reader to look around at most churches in America, and they will find out that the men there are bored. They don't want to be dutiful, nice guys who as the Charger ad states, "say yes, when you want me to say yes, and be quiet when you don't want me to say no".  They want to be something more, but aren't really sure how to achieve that goal.

At the risk of oversimplifying things, the problem lies in the concept that you have to be one extreme or the other.  You have to be either a sensitive guy who is more like a girlfriend, or some testosterone-fueled maniac.  The key is that a man (esp. a Christian one) can be somewhere in the middle.  Jesus was both sensitive enough that children would actually want to be with Him, but strong enough to stand up for those who are downtrodden, (and flip over a few tables in the process).  For those who say, "Yeah, but Jesus was also God." look no further than David, the man after God's own heart.  One who was sensitive enough to take care of sheep, (and write some really melancholy psalms), but also when it came to standing for his God and his country wasn't hesitant to hack off a man's (Goliath's) head with a giant sword in order to make sure that he was dead.

In a nation where men identify more with Homer Simpson than William Wallace, Chrysler cries out, "Be a man. Drive the car you really want to drive!" But God cries out, "Be a man. Follow after My own heart!"

The road to true manhood may be simple, but no one said the journey to get there would be easy.